Test Drive: Malibu turbo has features done right

Apr. 2, 2013
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The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ Turbo. / Tom Drew

by James R. Healey, USA TODAY

by James R. Healey, USA TODAY

TROY, Mich. -- Everybody needs a 2-liter turbo, it seems. Can't field a credible midsize car without such an engine, automakers appear to believe.

A plain, ol' four-cylinder doesn't quite have the punch to get the best of a 3,400-pound midsize sedan unless that four-cylinder is big enough to vibrate a bit and use more fuel than the driver probably expects.

So, downsize the engine for better mileage and refinement, and slap on a turbocharger so it'll really zip when the driver's right foot slams down.

That sweet spot seems to be a 2-liter four-banger boosted by a turbo. To some extent, taxes make that so.

"If it's an engine you sell globally, it's taxed after two liters. You save a ton of money buying a 2-liter turbo in, say, China, instead of a 3.6-liter V-6" with about the same power, says Mark Meyers, GM global vehicle performance manager.

The 2-liter turbo four newly arrived in the Chevrolet Malibu - sold on six continents - is 1.998 liters. Ford's 2-liter turbo, popular in Fusion and Escape, is 1.999 liters. Hyundai's Sonata 2-liter turbo is 1.998 liters. You get the drift.

The question is, how does the Malibu's 2-liter turbo stack up?

Pretty well, though undercut by shifting quirks in the six-speed automatic transmission.

Meyers says, "This is a brand new 'LTG' engine. It just blows away the V-6 in the 2012 Malibu, has 20% better fuel economy and does 6.3-second 0-60 (mph) times." LTG is the code name for the new family of engines GM is developing to be more fuel efficient, more powerful and easily used in most countries.

Malibu's engines have been a soap opera. Act 1 was January, when the fully redesigned, 2013 Malibu trickled onto the stage, offering only GM's eAssist mild hybrid drivetrain. Act 2 was summer, when the 2.5-liter four (shared with Cadillac ATS) arrived. That's the one most people will buy.

Then, starting in the fall, the powerful, premium turbo.

The lowest-price model with the turbo is the 3LT trim package, starting close to $28,000, so the go-fast engine is not a cheap date.

Test Drive had a chance to wheel about in two different Malibus with the newest engine. Both were high-end LTZ models, priced about $34,000.

The one we drove around here was mainly in fast traffic. Detroit-area freeways either are hosting race qualifying, or they're parking lots, much like the New Jersey Turnpike and doubtless many others you could name.

Hard-throttle downshifts were delayed, then crudely executed, as if the drivetrain missed a final tweaking stage before hitting prime time.

The front felt sloppy, and the car seemed unsettled, bobbing and leaning on exit ramps taken briskly.

The high-end leather seats, though gorgeous, felt lumpy and unpleasant.

Meyers and engineers looked over the car, and he says a flawed insulating mat against the firewall was rubbing the steering. The flaw exists on only a few cars, and he thinks all have been fixed. He said none went to dealers that way.

Test Drive had another Malibu waiting at home in Virginia. Nearly identical, it came down the assembly line at Fairfax, Kan., just 152 cars behind the Troy car, but felt quite different.

That car, he says, is "the way we're producing them" and should be considered representative.

It had no steering issues, and the only handling gaffe was an uncomfortable bounding of the front end over rippled asphalt taken fast. Seats were, inexplicably, a little more comfortable. The transmission was better-behaved. Still a slight delay on hard-throttle downshifts and an occasional indecisiveness - shift, or not? Hmmm. ... Also of note:

Dashboard with big knobs, simple controls. Such a treat to avoid the hunt for functions you must do on complicated-menu touch-screen cars.

Mirrors that didn't show much. Meyers says they're the quietest on any GM model because the design slides through the air so well.

The car is quiet inside and avoids the wind noise you get in some luxury cars much pricier than Malibu.

But no matter how we adjusted them here or in Virginia, a vehicle in another lane always managed to sneak up and surprise the driver.

Little lock buttons on all the outside door handles, not just the fronts, as on other cars. Malibu's rear buttons make it oh, so easy to reach in back, grab your briefcase and, without digging for your keys, lock the car via the back door, instead of having to step forward and use the front door button.

One of those little things that GM does right, in a big way.

Backup camera without helpful grid lines on the screen. Meyers says Malibu's screen comes from Panasonic, which got into a big fight with the patent holder, lost a lawsuit and now can't use the grid lines without paying "hostage fees."

"We'd rather have them, but it would be so costly it doesn't make any sense," he says.

It would cost a fortune to tear up the Malibu and redesign the dashboard to accept screens, radios and other accessories from other GM models that do have the on-screen guidelines, he says.